Herb's blog

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Supermarket companies can be problematic in many ways when they become too big and powerful – see Tescopoly campaign, for example.

On the other hand, credit is due when they "do the right thing", as exemplified by Tesco's "Perfectly imperfect" apples – see product labels below – which they sell as part of their apparent commitment to reduce food waste, and at a very reasonable price.

1. Be a reflective "producer" (this is about one's work choices)
2. Be an ethical consumer
3. Be an active citizen
4. Be a principled person

In conclusion, the author refers to Tolstoy, who wanted us to “bethink ourselves”. It turns out that Tolstoy's essay with the title Bethink Yourselves was written against the background of the Russo-Japanese War and contains this noteworthy statement (not least in the context of Remembrance):

Strange as this may seem, the surest and most certain deliverance for men from all their self-inflicted calamities, even the most dreadful of them – war – is attainable not by any external general measures but by that simple appeal to the consciousness of each individual man which was presented by Jesus nineteen hundred years ago: that every man should bethink himself and ask himself who he is, why he lives, and what he should and should not do.

The word "bethink" is interesting from a linguistic perspective. The Oxford English Dictionary confirms the "suspicion" that it is etymologically related to the German word "bedenken". It seems a shame that it is "obsolete". Perhaps it will make a comeback.

"In a way, Uber
has done us a favour by making concrete the kind of rightwing
libertarian dystopia that would come about if we allowed Silicon Valley
to design the future.
Instead, we should begin by recognising that, as machines plus
artificial intelligence begin to replace human beings, the entire
social, political and moral dilemma for humanity becomes a question of
systems".